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>American prison labor means longer unemployment lines in Alabama<

Two southeast companies that make U.S. military uniforms are shedding hundreds of jobs, as the government looks to federal inmates for the fatigues.
American Power Source makes military clothing in Fayette, Ala., but its government contract expires in October. Federal Prison Industries  which also operates under the name UNICOR will snag the work, and leave the task to inmates. FPI has the first right of refusal for U.S. Government contracts, under a 1930 federal law.
American Apparel, the Selma, Ala., based military clothing manufacturer closed one of its plants and continues to downsize others due to the loss of some of its contracts to FPI. According retired Air Force colonel and spokesman Kurt Wilson, the company laid off 255 employees and cut the hours of 190 employees this year alone. So private workers end up losing their jobs to prisoners.
"The way the law is  Federal Prison Industries gets first dibs and contracts up to a certain percentage before they have to compete against us," Wilson, the executive vice president of business development and government affairs, said. "The army combat uniform, for instance, is an item that they take off the top. As a result American tax payers pay more for it  but the bottom line is each soldier is paying more for their uniform."
American Apparel charges $29.44 per uniform, but the FPI uniform costs $34.18  a 15 percent difference.

Perhaps it would equal things out if UNICOR had to pay market wages to the prisoners, in turn the prisoners could be made to pay their board and lodging together with health insurance and security costs (guards and prison administration). Seeing as how it probably costs around $45K - $55K to keep a prisoner in jail for a year and the salary/wages would amount to, say, $30K - your average prisoner could get out of jail after a 1 year stay owing only $15K-$25K to the state.

Perhaps it would equal things out if UNICOR had to pay market wages to the prisoners, in turn the prisoners could be made to pay their board and lodging together with health insurance and security costs (guards and prison administration). Seeing as how it probably costs around $45K - $55K to keep a prisoner in jail for a year and the salary/wages would amount to, say, $30K - your average prisoner could get out of jail after a 1 year stay owing only $15K-$25K to the state.

fantastic idea. still taxpayer dollars, but two products for the price of one. nice.

The 13th Amendment says
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Soooo.... with all that free labor sitting in prisons pumping iron, put em to work.

Tolerance of the intolerant leads to the destruction of tolerance. You are also reminded that any inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest, in the land of the free.

fantastic idea. still taxpayer dollars, but two products for the price of one. nice.

I was trying to say that inmates should be responsible for the cost of keeping them incarcerated. So, if the value of their labor didn't cover the actual cost of incarceration they would still owe the state the remainder on their release. This could be worked off on parole while they covered their own board and lodging.

Until sometime in the mid-1930s, Alabama used to lease its prisoners to private companies as laborers. I thought that when that practice was stopped, the state could not use prisoners to compete with private enterprise. (Of course, even the common practice of having prisoners make license plates, or pick up trash on the shoulder of highways, puts them in competition with private labor.)